The Morning Bath

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Artist: Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
Medium: Pastel on off-white laid paper mounted on board
Size: 70.6 × 43.3 cm (27 13/16 × 17 1/16 in.)
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Later in his career Edgar Degas began using pastel more frequently and created some two hundred pastel drawings of bathers, including this example, which shows a woman stepping into a tub. The soft and crumbly consistency of this medium allowed him to both blend colors and apply more assertive marks that remain distinct. Here, the combination of these effects is evident in his handling of the various fabrics throughout. The woman is shown mid-step, her left leg already inside the tub and her right arm clutching the curtain to maintain her balance. Disheveled bedsheets and rumpled pillow sit between the viewer and the woman, adding a voyeuristic feel to this view of a private morning ritual.

Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0.